Highlights of the Past Week Pt. 2

2. On Friday we went to the beach! We drove about 1.5 hours to get there, but it was SO worth it. There was no one at the beach and it was beautiful. Without the car horns of the city, I was really able to relax a little bit.






3. Saturday evening was the primary activity. Most of the kids came with their families and we had loads of fun learning about the Book of Mormon. I adore the kids... I want one. Here are a few of them:

Joshua

Jason (He looks sweet, but he's kind of a terror)

Bertha. 8 going on 25. She's my bud.

Kingsley (Joshua's brother) We are also buds. I sit beside him all through primary to help him stay in his seat. :)

I love working in primary. Imma gonna miss these kiddos when I leave.

Highlights of the Past Week Pt. 1

1. I went to Koforidua last Thursday with 2 senior missionary couples. The city is about 2 hours outside of Accra through and mountains. Getting out of the city made me feel like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I definitely feel better with a little wide open space around me. In Koforidua, we went to the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana and the Koforidua bead market. At the research institute, they do exactly what the name suggests-- research cocoa. They try and develop the best growing methods for cocoa and give that information to the local farmers. It was fascinating! Ghana is the 2nd largest producer of cocoa in the world (behind Brazil). Interestingly, their locally produced chocolate really is pretty disgusting (Ghanaians usually don't like chocolate. It's too sweet), but they export all of their cocoa to companies like Cadbury and Nestle. So the next time you eat a Cadbury egg, thank Ghana! Here are some pics:

Cocoa pods on Cocoa tree.

Who knew this is how cocoa grows?! I sure didn't.

Amen.

Lots of beads.

Wide open space!

I learn a lot from Ghana billboards.

WTG #3

We frequent Ruth's fruit stand every week. She is a delightful lady that adds "please" to the end of every sentence. "More, please." or "How many mangoes, please?" or "Is that all, please?" Even better is that you can get produce for ridiculously good prices. This was today's shopping list:

5 tomatoes +
7 carrots +
2 bell peppers +
a lot of cilantro +
4 oranges +
4 mangoes +
2 pineapple +
------------------
= 14 cedi (7 dollars)

welcome to ghana (or at least Ruth's fruit stand).

one month down...

...two months to go. As of yesterday, I've been in Ghana for 4 weeks. I have to say, the first three weeks dragged a bit, but the last one went by really quickly. We finished teaching our second workshop on Friday. Lizzy and I taught better this go 'round, our class was smaller and bit less lively than the first group, but more of the participants already had a foundational knowledge about small businesses, so the discussion was more interesting. Here's a picture of the group:

Other highlights (and one lowlight) of the week included:

• I stayed up until 3:30 AM to watch the Superbowl and the Steelers lost. Definite downer.
  
• It rained for the first time since I arrived, and boy was it a doozy! It rained for a solid few hours and flooded the parking lot in our apartment complex. But afterwards, it felt so refreshing. The Harmattan is going away, so the blue sky is starting to come out again. Huzzah!
• Lizzy and I babysat the 1-year old of a young couple in our ward. He (the baby's father) works at the US Embassy so they have a pretty nice set up. After the babe went to bed and his parents came home, we played cards for a few hours. To make things better, they'd just received their food shipment from the states and most of the stuff came from Costco! I ate way too much, but it felt like I was back in America for a bit.
  
• Two of our Ghanaian friends, Koby and Rebecca, came over last night after institute and we taught them how to play Uno. It was the first time we'd hung out with people that wasn't at institute. I think that the young single adults here don't know how to just hang out because they work so hard all the time. Rebecca brought her homework to do! Lizzy and I are going to organize a YSA activity where we cook them Mexican food!
  
• On Monday, we went with the Maughans to a couple of cool stores that sell jewelry, beautiful fabric, artwork, and other African things. Submit your gift requests now!
• I got sunburned yesterday, but I have zero complaints about getting sunburned in February.
  

Welp, that's about it! On the docket for this week is a trip to the MTC and a bead factory with the Maughans, and then a trip to Koforidua with some senior missionaries (I love that I am friends with senior missionary couples!) Next week, we have a trip planned for Cape Coast. Huzzah for seeing more of Ghana!

superbowl XLV

steelers. 4. eva.

First Workshop

Here's a picture of the students from our first workshop. A couple weren't there the last day, and one is conveniently hiding behind my head, but we do what we can.

Since we don't teach this week, we were hoping some of our students would come in and get help with their business plans. No one has shown up so far, so next workshop we're going to schedule an appointment for each participants so they'll be a bit more committed.

Yesterday, Nawal (pink shirt) came in to show us her brochure for her business. She is hoping to start a grocery delivery service for people around Accra. If she can keep her good attitude and enthusiasm, I think she'll be quite successful.

I feel like a very proud mama!

WTG #2

Obama is a superstar in Ghana. People are constantly mentioning him, asking how I feel about his politics, and reminiscing about when he visited Cape Coast Castle in August of '09. They love him. So much so, that they put him and his family on things like these:


That's right, folks. For 20 pesewes (about 9 cents), you can have your very own Obama family shortbread cookies. Welcome to Ghana!